05-21-2023 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 10
S P OT L I G H T
BY DONNA OWENS For Harford Magazine
Kendall Outing, a 21-year-old film student, is honing his craft as an emerging director, producer
and screenwriter. At right, the poster for Outing’s documentary“Freetown.” HANDOUT
Through the lens
Fallston High grad Kendall Outing keeps the camera rolling as college moviemaker
Kendall Outing has a cinematic dream: to one
day see his name up in lights in Hollywood and
beyond.
Already, the 21-year-old film student is
making moves — or more precisely, movies —
while honing his craft as an emerging director,
producer and screenwriter.
“I’ve made six short films including my first
documentary,” said Outing, who is completing
his junior year at Florida State University’s
College of Motion Picture Arts. The top-rated
film school’s alumni include director Barry
Jenkins of “Moonlight” fame. Another graduate,
Allison Rose Carter, was a co-producer for
this year’s Oscar-winning film “Everything
Everywhere All at Once.”
“It’s amazing to be learning and doing what
I love,” said Outing, a New Jersey native whose
family, including older brother Chaz, relocated
to Harford County when he was in kindergarten.
“My wife Robin and I introduced our sons to
sports and all kinds of activities, from religious
camp to the arts,” said his father, Cornelius
“Neal” Outing. “Our philosophy in raising
children was, ‘It takes a village.’ School, church,
grandparents. They were never idle, and we kept
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them engaged.”
Today, the family and “village” are cheering
on both brothers — Chaz Outing is a visual
artist/designer who graduated from the Rhode
Island School of Design — as they pursue
creative careers.
“We are very proud of them, and they support
each other,” said their father.
Family movie nights provided inspiration
for Kendall Outing’s early film interests. After
viewing movies, “we would talk about them,
watch behind-the-scenes videos and look at the
equipment the filmmakers used,” he said.
In eighth grade, he penned a feature film
script. At Fallston High School, encouraged
by his teachers, he wrote several screenplays.
“I convinced my friends to act in them,” he
chuckles.
These days, the aspiring auteur is juggling
coursework while promoting his first
documentary, “Freetown.” The short film tells
the story of a small Black community in Anne
Arundel County established Dec. 26, 1845.
“The founder of Freetown was my greatgreat grandfather, James Spencer” said Tony
J. Spencer, a descendant and historian who
appears in the documentary. “He was a sea
captain, landowner, and during the Civil War, he
served in the Union Army with the U.S. Colored
Troops.”
Early settlers in Freetown were free
or formerly enslaved Blacks, and some of
their names still exist on street signs in
the community. The film features several
descendants, highlighting their memories of
a tight knit, self-sufficient enclave that has
survived for centuries.
“I first heard about Freetown from my father,”
said Kendall Outing, explaining that his dad
knew a family with ties to the town. “I started
doing research,” aided by Spencer and other
sources.
Once his professor greenlit the project,
Outing and two classmates with whom he
collaborated on the film, embarked on a road
trip from Tallahassee to Freetown, which is in
Glen Burnie.
The production had a shoestring budget —
about $400 dollars — mostly allotted for gas,
hotel and food costs.
“We filmed on location over four days in
March 2022,” said Outing, adding that they